Trump to propose 1.9 percent wage hike for federal employees

The Trump administration, after announcing plans to slash spending across much of the government, will recommend a 1.9 percent raise for federal workers to take effect in January, according to a budget document and a senior budget official.

The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly, said agencies have been told by the White House to build a 1.9 percent pay raise for civilian employees into their spending plans for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.

The proposed budget the administration released last week, boosting military spending by $54 billion and cutting non-military programs by roughly the same sum, made no mention of a raise. It was designed, though, as a "blueprint" and did not address many issues typically contained in budgets. The administration is scheduled to release a more detailed plan in May.

A preliminary blueprint for the Commerce Department instructs the agency to "factor in a 1.9 percent pay raise for civilian employees, to go into effect on the first pay period of January, 2018." Since such raises are government-wide, the increase would apply for all employees.

News of the intended raise was met with criticism from federal employee unions, which called it paltry given the hits the workforce has taken to pay and benefits in recent years.

"While it's good that the White House recognizes the need to raise wages for federal employees, [a 1.9 percent pay raise] is far below what's called for under the law," J. David Cox Sr., national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union, said in a statement.

"Federal employees earn less today than they did at the start of the decade when adjusted for inflation, and they deserve a more meaningful increase to make up for the more than $182 billion in cuts to their pay and benefits that have occurred since 2010," Cox said.

The news also surprised some fiscally conservative budget watchers, given the president's pledge to shrink the size and scope of the government and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney's prediction last week that layoffs are inevitable.

"It is surprising," said Chris Edwards, director of tax policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. He noted, though, that the raise would also apply to employees working in the Defense and Homeland Security Departments, whose functions the administration is seeking to boost -- and who make up about half the 2.1 million civilian workers.

John Czwartacki, a spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget, said he had no information to provide on a raise "at this time."

Any increase is subject to approval by Congress, a process that could continue until the fall. Several Senate and House Democrats have introduced legislation backed by the unions advocating a 3.2 percent raise starting in January.

It's common practice for presidents to use a Labor Department measure of wage growth called the Employment Cost Index as a starting proposal for a raise for federal workers; an exception would be a national emergency or economic change such as a downturn. Under federal pay law, "the base increase in 2018 would be 1.9 percent," according to the Federal Salary Council, which oversees that law.